Re: HARDWARE: Open-Source-Friendly Graphics Cards -- Viable?

[Bodo Eggert]

Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Oct 2004, Jon Smirl wrote:

>> If you implement VGA you will be able to boot and work in any x86
>> system without writing any code other than the BIOS.
> 
> Ugh... I prefer _not_ to have VGA compatibility.

If you want to be able to see the BIOS, you'll need some legacy emulation,
but it should be enough to implement MDA output.

Since some VGA cards used to depend on the MDA/CGA BIOS routines, most
(all?) BIOS variants will implement all nescensary IO functions. You'll
need some MDA registers for the cursor position (that don't even clash with
EGA/VGA/CGA), 4K mapped memory at B000:0000 and a loop translating the text.
-- 
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